It is alarming to learn the National Coast Guard Museum is still planned for a site that floods, on the wrong side of the tracks, behind a railroad station, in a 5-storey glass building vulnerable to wind and weather. The lack of popular support evident in the mere $18 million collected after several years of trying strongly suggests that total funding will never be found.

I realize that the project is very popular with some city officials and some Coast Guard personnel, active duty and retired, as a tourist attraction, I suppose. The region, the state and the federal government all want to encourage tourism, hence the support from them. It is possible that another site would draw more popular support and retain the state and federal funding.

The Fort Trumbull area, with its historic connection with the Coast Guard Academy, is another site if the museum must be in New London, and then there's the Eagle. As an active training vessel, her brief periods in port may well be marked by work to be done not conducive to accommodating tourists. A safer location for her would be the pier at Fort Trumbull.

I advocate rethinking the whole project.

Larry White

Niantic